Randy & the Rainbows

Randy & the Rainbows
Also known as Later performed as:
Madison Street
Triangle
Them and Us
Origin Maspeth, New York
Genres vocal, doo-wop
Years active 1962 (1962)–present
Members Original members (1962-1963):
Dominick "Randy" Safuto
Frank Safuto
Mike Zero
Sal Zero
Ken Arcipowski

Randy Safuto's Randy & The Rainbows:
Randy Safuto
Frank Safuto
Anthony Vara
Charlie Rocco

Mike Zero's Randy & The Rainbows:
Mike Zero
Jack Vitale
Vinny Carella (died 2012)
Jimmy Bense
Randy Safuto and Christian Carrasco, one of the members of the Spanish doo-wop band Earth Angels, during their participation in the festival of this genre at the Benedum Center for the Performing arts in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Randy And The Rainbows with The Earth Angels doo wop band.

Randy & the Rainbows are an American doo wop group from Maspeth, New York. The group was formed in 1962 in a neighborhood of Queens, and featured two pairs of siblings, along with a fifth member. The Safuto brothers had previously sung in the group The Dialtones. They recorded with the producers of The Tokens, releasing the single "Denise" in 1963. The song spent 17 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100, reaching No. 10,[1] while reaching No. 18 on Billboard's "Hot R&B Singles",[2] and No. 5 on Canada's CHUM Hit Parade.[3] "Denise" was written by Neil Levenson, and was inspired by his childhood friend, Denise Lefrak.[4] The song later became a European hit for Blondie, with the title changed to "Denis". Randy & The Rainbows' follow-up single, "Why Do Kids Grow Up", barely scraped the pop charts at No. 97, and the group never charted again.[1]

Members

The original 1962 line-up was made up of:

Founder band member, Ken Arcipowski, died on March 23, 2011. He was 66.[5]

Later years

They continued to perform under several other names (Madison Street, Triangle, Them and Us), and toured in subsequent years with The Spinners, Little Anthony & the Imperials, Tony Orlando, Blood, Sweat and Tears, Freddie Roman, Jay Black, Pat Cooper, The Beach Boys, Dionne Warwick, and The Four Seasons.[6] They released a new album, entitled Play Ball, in 2001 on producer Jimmy Wisner's label WizWorks.[7]

Two similarly named groups

Two groups now exist carrying the same name, one led by the Safuto brothers (Randy and Frank), the other led by Mike Zero.

Randy Safuto's Randy & The Rainbows

This is made up of the Safuto brothers, members are as follows:

The group appeared on the 2001 PBS special Doo Wop 51; it featured Randy's group plus Mike Zero.

Mike Zero's Randy & The Rainbows

This is made up of

Discography

Albums

Singles

References

  1. 1 2 Randy & the Rainbows - Chart History - The Hot 100, Billboard.com. Accessed September 30, 2015
  2. "Billboard Hot R&B Singles", Billboard, September 28, 1963. p. 20
  3. CHUM Hit Parade – Week of August 19, 1963 at the Wayback Machine (archived November 7, 2006). Chart No. 336. CHUM. Accessed December 16, 2015.
  4. Milestones, Billboard, February 2, 2008, p. 60.
  5. Thedeadrockstarsclub.com - accessed March 2011
  6. Biography, Allmusic.com
  7. Review of Play Ball. Allmusic.com
  8. WizWorks Records
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